Children in Britain will be forced to attend at least one year of sex-education classes before their 16th birthday, according to new rules enacted in the United Kingdom. The BBC reports that parents cannot opt out children 15 or older, even if their children attend parochial or religious schools.

This week, as almost everyone is aware, marks the 20th anniversary of the dramatic fall of the Berlin Wall, an event that set in motion the domino-like collapse of communist regimes across Eastern Europe behind the so-called “Iron Curtain.”

Martial law was effectively declared in the Ukraine last week by unpopular President Victor Yushchenko after an outbreak of what health officials described as flu and respiratory infections. The outbreak has reportedly already infected hundreds of thousands of people in the western regions of the country. In response, the office of the President on November 6 floated the idea of postponing the presidential election until May of next year.